Yes or no on Khabibulin?

While I wait to hear if Francois Giguere wants to say anything about the situation involving veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, I’ll give you my take on the matter and open up the floor to you all whether you think it’s a good idea for the Avs to get him and take on his $6.75 million salary.

Overall, I really think the Avs should try to get him. I’m sorry Peter Budaj and Andrew Raycroft fans, but right now I just don’t have faith that either is a Stanley Cup-caliber goalie. I do think Budaj has talent and a good attitude, but I just haven’t seen enough to convince me he has what it takes to take an NHL team all the way. Khabibulin has proven that he does. Granted, that was four years ago in Tampa and the Bulin Wall has been breached fairly often since then with the Blackhawks, but don’t forget:
– Khabibulin is in the final year of his contract. I always like a goalie who is playing for that next big deal. We saw what that motivation did to Jose Theodore last spring.
– He played on some bad Chicago teams with porous defenses in front of him. And yet, his numbers still weren’t bad.
– He would give Avs teammates more of that confidence, that they are playing in front of a big-time goalie and don’t have to worry about every little breakdown. That is huge to a hockey team, having that little extra swagger.

Khabibulin cleared waivers today, which means the Blackhawks are down to two options if they want to get rid of him: they have to find a team willing to trade for him (most likely scenario) or they could send him to the minors (unlikely). The reason it’s unlikely they’d send him to the minors is that, although it would take his salary off the books, if Chicago recalled him at any point in the season, he would have to go through a re-entry waiver process. Then, if another team claimed him, they would only have to pay half of his salary, and the Blackhawks would have to pay the other half. Then, the Hawks would be in a lose-lose situation, with nothing in return for him.

So, it’s clear that they want to trade him now. As I said, the Avs aren’t commenting on anything, and it’s unlikely they will. They are the Avs, after all.

As of right now, the Avs only have about $5 million of cap space, too. So, they would have to trade someone to take him on – and then they would probably still be right up against the cap limit, which is something teams never like to do.

If the Avs could convince the Blackhawks to take back Tyler Arnason ($1.6 million) in exchange for the Bulin Wall, I’m sure the Avs would be sorely tempted to do it. Chicago does need another center, but would they want Arnie back? I tend to doubt it.

What I suspect is, the Avs feel they’d be too close to the cap if they had Habby, and don’t want to bargain everything on an older goalie who is overpaid and can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season (memories of Theodore are still fresh in their minds). On the other hand, this team has always been about trying to win NOW, and it’s clear that goaltending is the team’s biggest question mark.

Don’t forget, too, that the Avs acquired Theodore when they had Budaj on the team. If they were so confident of his future, why would they do that? Think it can’t happen again?

Still, I think the money is the chief concern, as well as concern over how good the Bulin Wall really is anymore.